SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to Beyond the Beacon with Bishop Kevin Sweeney, a podcast of the Diocese of Patterson, New Jersey. Join us for conversations about our Catholic faith, and together let's strive to live a life of faith, hope, and love. We're so glad you can join us. I'm Jay Agnis. With me is Bishop Kevin Sweeney, and joining us as well is Cecile Pagliarullo today. So hello, welcome. How are you guys doing?

SPEAKER_03 0:31

Happy New Year, Happy New Year. Merry Christmas. Seven days in already. We made it. Yes, and concluded the Jubilee. And uh maybe the timing is good. Yesterday, Pope Leo closed the last Jubilee door, right? So uh deadly. Um so uh some say now his pontificate will really begin, and uh we'll see what he has in store for us.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

All right, yeah, so today we're going to spend some time looking back, looking forward. Cecile and I dug through the analytics for our social media accounts and the Beacon website. We identified some social media posts and articles and podcast episodes that resonated with our audience. We also have a few questions for you, Bishop, and want to hear your perspective on the Universal Catholic Church for 2026 and some of the local events happening here in the Diocese of Patterson. So do you want to open up with prayer?

SPEAKER_03 1:31

Sure. Um as we begin this new year and um pray for peace as we always do. Um we pray for our country, our president, for all world leaders. Uh we just had the um extraction of the president of Venezuela. Um so um uh we continue to pray for peace. So I thought maybe uh as our first uh as we move on from we're still pilgrims of hope and praying uh that we can uh continue as pilgrims of hope. But now that the Jubilee year has uh come to an end and we'll begin a new year, uh let's uh maybe pray the prayer of St. Francis as as we pray for peace. So we'll place ourselves in God's presence in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. We're gonna pray this prayer, um, the prayer of St. Francis on the feast of St. Raymond of Penafort, a Spanish priest who was a nobleman who I think lived from 1175 to 1275, 100 years of life, uh, the second uh leader of the Dominican Order um after St. Dominic. And so as we pray, we'll also pray for Father Ed Davy, a priest of our diocese who turned 100 last October 4th on the Feast of St. Francis. And um his funeral will be tomorrow at um at Our Lady of the Mountain in Long Valley. So we pray for the repos of the soul of Father Davy, and um we pray for our diocese, our families, for vocations. Um, and this coming Sunday we look forward to the celebration of the baptism of the Lord so that we can all be faithful to the call we received at baptism, the call to holiness, and that we might be instruments of peace. Let us pray together. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me know. Where there is injury, pardon, where there is doubt, faith, where there is despair, hope, where there is darkness, light, where there is sadness, joy. O divine master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Our Lady's seed of wisdom, Mother of the Church, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us, Saint John the Baptist, pray for us, Saint Raymond of Penafort, pray for us, all holy men and women, pray for us. Pray for us. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And we wish to all the Sisters of Charity a happy feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. She got a little bumped this year because her feast day fell on a Sunday, yeah. So it was the epiphany liturgically, uh, the Sunday, the second Sunday after Christmas. Um, but happy feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton to all of our sisters of charity and um Catholic school teachers too, as well. Um so um, and everybody's back to school then. Catholic school week is right around the school.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Uh so where where to begin, Bishop? What is what is most pressing on your mind? What what have you been thinking about lately?

SPEAKER_03 4:36

Uh reflecting on the uh hopefully everyone got a l chance to slow down. I think um it's great when Christmas falls on a Wednesday or Thursday or even Tuesday, uh, and you kind of get 10 days um of at least a little slower time. Uh so I was able to enjoy that. Hope others were, and um time for prayer and reflection as well as we now are back in somewhat regular schedule and uh school and work and um uh a new year. Um but also gratitude, you know, uh gratitude is so important, and uh the end of one year and the beginning of another is a chance to look back and give thanks for the blessings received. I um uh the parish next door to where my house is, uh St. Teresa and Patterson, their youth group apparently has been invited me on Instagram. Uh so I was there actually for Mass on Christmas morning, but also they have a custom which was in my second parish in Corona and where I was pastor um to on New Year's Eve uh instead of a party maybe to have um mass in a holy hour starting around 10 o'clock and bringing us into the New Year. So uh the last few years I've um had the opportunity to do that at um St. Teresa Parish in um in Patterson and uh with Father Yasid and uh so um So you're there at midnight? Oh well when the ball drops. I uh was glad that the Mass now is at 10 o'clock and then after Mass they have exposition in the Holy Hour. Uh so the Mass ended around eleven fifteen. I stayed for the beginning of the Holy Hour and uh was home to watch the ball drop from uh uh uh Times Square. But um uh uh it was a great way to end one year and begin another one.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

So uh did you when you were in New York, did you ever get to the Times Square?

SPEAKER_03 6:28

No, no, no. Um I uh probably from probably from 2000 um my first Paris, we used to have a New Year's Eve party. Okay. Um as a kid, it was college uh seminary, I'm not sure what what I did, but uh uh um but I don't think I ever got to I don't want to stand there for all that.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

I mean 2011 and 2012 and it's interesting. There aren't many locals, it's actually really historically I did it because a group of new kids on the block was performing.

SPEAKER_03 7:01

They're still around. Did they did they do something this I was it? I think they have listened to them in some listen to their music still.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Um I did it once and those experiences one and done though for me for sure.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

That was what year 1112?

SPEAKER_02 7:16

I think 2011 or 2012.

SPEAKER_03 7:18

I think it was 98 or 99 or 2000 when I was in my first parish. Um and in sync had a song called God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You. I used to love that. Well, I used to use it on a tree. It's a beautiful message. Um so um so we didn't think we'd be talking about music, but uh nothing wrong with that. Uh and uh yeah, so I think since 2003 when I w or four when I went to my 2003 that four, that that New Year's probably almost every year since, either at Our Lady of Sorrows and Corona, St. Michael's, or St. Teresa, I've uh done Mass in Holy Honors. So yeah, yeah. And this year, sorry, on New Year's Day, um I remembered a memory from my second parish um where there was a large Ecuadorian community, and the Ecuadorian community celebrates Nuestra de las Nubes, Our Lady of the Clouds. Um just posted those photos. Yeah, yeah. Um Sogas is a place in in Ecuador where there's this devotion to uh Our Lady of the Nubes, the clouds. Um but they had a procession in Corona uh at 6 a.m. on New Year's Day. Wow. I remember the pastor saying, you know, tomorrow morning, got a procession with uh I said, okay. Um and then I remember um hearing the procession outside my window as uh as as I was waking up sometimes. Whoops. Um but fortunately our lady of um uh St. Margaret's in um of Scotland in Morristown. They had Mass at 1215 on New Year's Day, but also celebrating our Lady of Newbury's with a large beautiful, beautiful, great devotion to Church was true.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Joe Geeley won he won first. That's right. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:00

The light that gleams from their stained glass windows in St. Margaret's.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

So So, yes, um the beauty of our faith. Uh um I mentioned um I had masked for the Carmelite Sisters um the day after Christmas, St. Stephen's Day, at the and uh I was with my Aunt Nora, and uh she was a little under the weather Christmas Day because she said she was up on a ladder and she wrenched her back. She's 95. Uh so she didn't come out Christmas Eve, but she was fine-informed. Christmas Day, we went to my family on Long Island and on the car ride out. She was so happy she saw the masks from the um uh shrine in the Macleth Conception in Washington, D.C. I think it started at 11 o'clock. She said she turned on TV, and the papal nuncio, Cardinal Pierre, was the celebrant, and I think she feels like she knows him because she was at the ordination installation. And uh she was just saying um uh reflecting kind of on the Christmas season and the decoration and advent, and she says, you know, the Catholic Church really does it right. The Catholic Church really does it. And you know, uh you look at the nativity scenes and just the beauty of this season, um, we shouldn't take it for granted, right? Um the um the Catholic Church has a lot of beauty that can invite us to prayer and reflection.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

A lot of mystery and yeah, a lot of okay, so um where to begin. So um in looking back at 2025, Cecile, what what did you find were some of the were you want to start with events?

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Sure, so it's uh very relevant to the one question we got from a seminarian, Brian Riley. He had asked, I guess what are some highlights of the Jubilee year for you?

SPEAKER_03 11:21

Highlights of the Jubilee year, yeah. Um certainly being able to go to Rome was wonderful. Um, and through the holy doors, we had a great group in the uh 30 or so that were part of the, and we saw um one of our seminarians, now deacon Lucas Foland be ordained a deacon at St. Peter's, um, just wonderful. Um, and also um the opening mass and closing mass, uh, the Sunday between Christmas and New Year's, such a difficult day for pastors. When the day weekend, everyone wants to just say uh have some quiet time, and yet parishioners came and priests and pastors, and uh uh the 24 opening, we had a 60-degree day for a procession outside. Uh the weather wasn't as good, but the attendance I might have been better.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Um you think so?

SPEAKER_03 12:09

I uh I if Cathedral was full, um there may have been, I think I want to say there was 30 or 40 parishes that had banners in the procession. Maybe in the opening, there might have been 60 or so. So there might have been a few more parishes represented at the opening, but um those were two highlights. The local pilgrimages, too, I think um uh uh there's a there's a uniqueness to each one, uh, but it was a blessing for me to be able um so the first one would have been really to opening at the cathedral, and then um St. James in Montague up in the northwest corner. Um uh the first uh our um feast of the visitation, May 31st, the Jubilee of Families at um Shrine of St. Joseph in Sterling, and we had a pilgrimage from St. Vincent de Paul Parish to the shrine, which was uh a nice walk. And uh then uh St. Luke's in Long Valley. Uh that was probably the longest walk.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

Um and uh there was some uh we have drone footage of it, and it looked like a bit of a hike.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

Sister Teresa and one of our seminarians, Eric, were doing some of the traffic uh control on that one. So um and then uh St. Bernard's in Mount Hope, um great climbing Mount Hope on the for the Jubilee of Hope. Did I get them all? St. James, St. Joseph, St. Luke's, Mount Bernard and the Cathedral. Yep, five, yes.

SPEAKER_02 13:28

I guess Sterling. Do we mention that? Sterling, yeah, yeah. That was um The family dynasty.

SPEAKER_03 13:31

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

So, yeah, one of the podcasts that performed the best for us last year, the audio version was that was the one on the Jubilee, how to get involved in the Jubilee for 2025. So we did good there. And another another podcast episode that did well was how this close-knit Catholic school community thrives now. And that was a remote episode when we went to All Saints Academy. Oh, yes, right, right. In uh Parsippony. Right, right.

SPEAKER_03 13:59

Um They're doing well, God bless them. But um, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

But uh but in general, the we're grateful to the to our audience audience for listening or watching. Um it's been an it was an enjoyable year working with you guys on the on the podcast. What um now, so Jubilee, the door is open, the door is closed. Big question, what's Pope Leo got in store for us for the 2026 and beyond? And I know you commented on that a little bit in your column, which was entitled Pope Leo the Fourteenth's Christmas Address to the Roman Curia, Mission and Communion.

SPEAKER_03 14:35

Do you want to touch on that a little bit? Uh his the way he recalls Pope Francis, and I think we'll see now Pope Leo um in his own way uh continue the, as he's talked about, the work of the Cynodal Church with the mercy of God at the center, um uh uh re remembering that we're called to be a missionary church, evangelization, uh, and that we're a welcoming church, a joyful church uh that welcomes all. Um he said it so beautifully, and uh and he um uh emphasized those two points, um um communion and mission. Communion and mission. And actually, the theme of the synod was communion, participation, and mission, and the folk our friends on uh uh inside the Vatican. Inside the Vatican, um, uh sister of Jesuitical, but uh um they said, well, it was the Vatican officials, so they were already kind of participating. So he wanted to make sure that they were uh remembering the importance of communion, that unity, togetherness, um, and and mission, that we have to be outward looking, um out to the peripheries, as Pope Francis would say. So um, yeah, I mean, you know, when you look back at the Jubilee, I think w when in terms of images, um uh the Pope Francis waving goodbye um on Easter Sunday, um, and then the next morning the news that he his earthly pilgrimage had come to an end, um, and then um the whole experience of the conclave and Pope Leo's first words, um peace be with you, and uh the realization an American Pope who was predicted.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

Well, I'm senior cookie, that was one of our most viewed reels. And uh I think for the church, you could even see in our analytics that you could see a spike during that time when Pope Francis passed and Pope Leo's election. You could really see an interest locally here.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

Yeah, even um when Pope Francis was sick, I mean, um the attention of the world, it it was really something um to see. Um and uh and um uh I've shared before, I think we might grow in our appreciation that um now two consecutive holy fathers come to us from the experience of the Latin American Church um and uh Salem, the Conferencia Episcopal de Latin America, the Latin American Bishops Conference. Um uh I recently reconnected with someone I known from Brooklyn campus ministry in high school. She and her family are serving in El Salvador. Um and you think back to the Bishops Conference, and since the Vatican Council and Latin America, um Archbishop Romero, um uh uh the the Church of the Poor, uh the preferential option for the poor, um really you can see where synodality came out of that experience, and then Pope Francis kind of gave it to the whole church to uh reflect on. So um and and that they went back to Latin America. Uh yes, born and raised in Chicago and graduated of Villanova, um wonderful uh Augustinian, um, but um spent a lot of time in Peru and in Latin America, um, and so Pope Leo was very familiar with that experience of the church, and I think that experience is gonna be continued to be shared with the whole church.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

And immigration, obviously, uh top in line for the the church and and also the USCCB. And one of your um columns that did really well in 2025 was All or Nothing, The Life and Witness of Sister Claire Crossing.

SPEAKER_03 18:09

I was gonna write, I I first watched the video of Sister Claire either on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day of um 24 into 25. I was gonna say, write a column and say, I first met Sister Claire. Um so if you haven't seen it, all or nothing, put it up. Um uh uh I didn't know that that was one of the more popular ones.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

And and also the the one that you wrote, your personal experience about immigration, the perspective of your parents, that one did really well. People read a lot of people read that one. The immigrant experience, a personal reflection. And then also um we can't not look at 2025 and remember the dear uh priest of ours who passed away suddenly, Father Raphael Ciro, you wrote about him as well in one of your columns.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

And yeah, um I had the opportunity to be there um uh with the people of um St. Stephen's, yeah. Um uh Father Diego Monsalve now is the administrator and doing a great job, and uh it's such a beautiful community of faith. And um Father Raphael Ciro, you can see how he uh planted seeds and um uh served so beautifully as a pastor and that mystery of um mental health challenges and um illness, and uh we would never want to go through that again. And um we pray continue to pray for his mom. I try to reach out to her when I can, and uh some of our priests are in contact with Father Raphael's family, and uh so um very, very sad. Um but um in the Paschal mystery that we uh celebrated every Mass, we're confident in God's mercy and the promise of everlasting life in heaven. So and certainly um had that experience of the church both within the diocese and even I guess um online, the the support that came in for me and for the parish and and and for our diocese um was um was um a tremendous experience of the power in prayer and the comfort that we try to offer to one another in our in our saddest moments.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

And and and um mental health is is really kind of moved to the forefront, I think, of the conversation in in the Catholic Church to some degree. And I wanted to mention we part of what we wanted to discuss was events that we're looking forward to in 2026 and wanted to mention, and there is going to be a very important event entitled From Isolation to Belonging, Mental Health and the Catholic Church, which is um the New Jersey Catholic Conference put together in partnership with New Jersey Catholic Diocese and also Catholic Charities and Catholic Health Care Partnership of New Jersey. Um this is a one-day mental health conference aimed to increase awareness and understanding of the escalating crisis in mental health illness affecting increasing numbers in the US and across the the world. That's on May 2nd. And then we're also gonna have something local that you want to talk about here.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

Uh we um soon after Father Raphael's passing at a meeting, a parishioner from one of our parishes um who was part of um uh I believe it's the New Jersey Mental Health Association. We can get the uh the link on the notes, but uh they reached out to us and uh so we're gonna um have something um for uh parish leaders and others uh on um just some general introduction to mental health challenges and resources that are available. That'll be Thursday um March 5th, uh uh at St. Mary's in Ponton Lakes, where we've also shared and we can share more information, but um some um uh parishioners have come to us and uh started something called the Saint Difna, our Lady of Hope, our Lady of Hope St. Difna Society. Um uh we can get you more information.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Which you wrote about in one of your columns not too long ago. Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

Um so um uh just again an opportunity for um solidarity and collaboration and uh education, um that we could be there for one another and for those who may be struggling to be able to offer resources uh so um we can get more information about that. But uh Thursday, May March 5th, um here locally in the diocese, and then uh I think it's Saturday, May 2nd, um uh the statewide conference uh in Matutchin, is that what you said?

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Uh in Piscataway.

SPEAKER_03 22:36

So um uh yes, we um we We'll get more information then. That really comes out of uh Bishop Barron uh and the USCB. Uh it came up, I want to say two years ago. Um what was gonna be a 15-minute presentation turned into uh hour-long discussion back and forth with the bishop sharing experiences and uh uh any encouragement from the national conference to uh reach out on a local level to mental health professionals and uh see how we could collaborate. So uh Jim King, who's the uh head of the New Jersey Catholic Conference, has been working with Cardinal Tobin and the bishops of the state to put together this conference. So um we'll look forward to inviting um parishioners and leaders and ministers to to be able to attend.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

Yeah, so we have that on the event section of beaconnj.org. And uh I'll put that in the notes for this episode. Um All right, back back to you, Cecile. What uh next for us?

SPEAKER_02 23:33

Uh we are now almost up to 12,000 followers on Facebook, and um some of the reels that have done really well on Instagram is uh the Cathedral's Via Crucis, that always seems to resonate very well. Like this is two years in a row already. And uh the priesthood ordination with the two new priests, Father Brendan and Brendan and Father Joe. Yep. So that was very popular, and then we mentioned Monsignor Kupke's prediction of a Cardinal. Yes, yeah, your reaction was very interesting. And then boom, he's Pope. So uh now a post that caught me by surprise is uh the sisters now serving at our cathedral, the Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Michigan, yes.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

And uh I mean I I guess you celebrated Mass with them recently, and that's the post that just got a lot of lace. And I have a feeling they have a relative that reposted us. So uh is there anything you could say about this order?

SPEAKER_03 24:35

They've been with us, I guess, since the summer now. Um uh, you know, we have a charter school um uh uh at our cathedral, um uh Patterson Prep, and uh there's a five-day after school catechetical program, and um the sisters um are now um working with that catechetical program and uh not only with the children but with their parents, and then they're living at um the convent of what was St. Michael's Parish, um, which is now uh working together with the cathedral community, and uh um they've been doing outreach to to moms in the neighborhood and uh uh just been doing uh great work and it's been great. We'll um talking before we're gonna try to get them on a podcast to hear a little bit more about their ministry. Uh and uh Monsignor Gino, Father Starley, the whole staff um at the cathedral that where great things have been happening now, you know, for many years. But uh we've been going back to Father Mark Giordani, Monsignor Mark Giordani, and uh um but under Monsignor Silva and uh since especially the charter school with the catechetical program has opened, um we've just seen a lot of blessings. You know, they have their Christmas in Patterson as well, at Bethlehem and Patterson. Uh um thousands, uh hundreds, if not thousands, of children receive uh toys and and coats right before Christmas. So um, so yes, and the sisters are a great part now of that of that effort.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

I know uh growing up in Passake, when we would have nuns talk to our youth group, this is our their first experience, some of the teams that they never met a nun in person, they never saw one. So I'm guessing that's the same experience for the young people in Patterson.

SPEAKER_03 26:11

That's true, that's right, yeah, right, right, right, right. And the religious system mercy of Alma, Michigan is one of the um communities that is getting uh vocations and and is growing rather than um some of the other communities, you know, it's part of the our history as a church and as the church in the United States. Um, you know, we had um, especially in the northeast, some communities that of women religious that um, you know, huge and massive in numbers and and and they're not you know what they were before, but um each has their own. We had the sisters on uh uh about immigration, right? Um the sister of Christian charity and the um uh missionary of the Immaculate Conception. Um uh it was great having those sisters and uh we see you know uh the harvest is rich and the laborers are few. There's plenty of work to do in the Lord's Vineyard, and uh we're happy to have ministers, women and men um who are uh and that's a little plug for the baptism of the Lord this coming Sunday. Uh we go back to ordinary time after the Christmas season, and we start with that remembrance that not only was Jesus baptized himself, but um he gives us um baptism to um not only be forgiven for original sin and uh become a member of the church, the body of Christ, but uh also receive that call to be his disciple and um that vocation that we all share from baptism, the call to holiness. Um uh whether it be in as a consecrated religious woman or man in religious life or priest or um uh married life or single life, um God has a plan for all of us. And uh it's great, as you say, Cecile, when we can give our young people an opportunity to see all the different uh vocations that are out there that um they could consider how how and where God might be calling them. So um yeah, we have to do that um uh as often as we can.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

I noticed you went to Sikh last year, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:58

Yes. And I know this week, I didn't make it this this year, yeah, um into Columbus. But uh I heard they had more numbers than uh than ever, right? And uh that's a place where you certainly see a lot of uh especially younger religious, you know, that um uh so uh Well the Salesians always make a appearance there. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 28:15

There's something that trended is uh there's a speed dating event.

SPEAKER_03 28:19

I saw that I I saw a highlight.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

I didn't see the um Yeah, it's like the biggest group of Catholics at a speed dating event.

SPEAKER_03 28:28

There you go. Um uh Seek um is the conference uh sponsored by Focus, the fellowship of campus uh college of Catholic University, uh campus ministers that they've been under the leadership of Curtis Martin, who's now just stepped aside. But um Focus is doing uh great things um on our campus, and now they're uh apparently doing more ministry in parishes as well. So good thing to do. SIK would be more to the college age. I was able to be at uh NCYC National Catholic Youth Conference, uh which would be more the high school age. Um and um and in a few weeks we'll see the young church marching on behalf of life in Washington, D.C. Uh there's still room on our bus for those uh our buses that uh the w information on the website, the March for Life um Friday, January 23rd. Um so um if you haven't signed up, please consider. And uh if you want to see the Young Young Church out in uh in uh enthusiastic, uh joyful faith, uh the March for Life is a great place to do it.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

A couple other big events happening for us in 2026. Um just to select a few, I guess, would be our What is it every three years we do the diocesan pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. Yes, yes. That's gonna be October 16, 17th.

SPEAKER_03 29:54

Um be getting information out about that. We want to um encourage attendance, yep.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

And then we have New Jersey Catholic Youth Conference, May 17th.

SPEAKER_03 30:04

Great adventure, six flags, right? I believe.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

A few other like very key masses that happen annually. So Oh Welcome Home for Healing is a rather quarter.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

Yes, that's right, that's right. Yes, yes, we'll be um we'll be getting uh information out on that. But uh the Mondays of Lent, um the opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, yes, so we'll be getting that started again. And um uh last few years I've had a day where we bring representatives, we have seven Catholic high schools in the diocese, um three sponsored by the diocese and three and four sponsored by religious communities, and uh so we get about eight or ten students from each high school and they come together. So is that happening? Yeah, yeah, we're um it's on on its way. Um I think in February or March I it's on my calendar.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

All right. So uh what you know we had a hundred thousand active users visit beaconnj.org in twenty twenty five. So that website's been growing. Thank you for everyone who's visiting the website, subscribing to the newsletter, visiting and interacting with our social media accounts and listening to the podcast. Is there um I know you're always listening to podcast episodes and and watching uh big into different Catholic shows and what uh what are some of your favorite favorites from 2025?

SPEAKER_03 31:23

Uh The Chosen. Um I uh saw the first two episodes of season five um in Lent. Um they were out in the theaters, it's a streaming series. Uh uh the first four seasons were phenomenal. Um so beautiful. It's really Ignatian prayer of reflection on the scriptures and wh where the disciples came from and um just wonderful. Um and uh in my mind I'd said, oh, you know what, I don't know if I'm gonna it there were I think um seven or eight episodes in uh season five, the most recent season, I had seen the first two when I said um so I had a little time between Christmas and New Year. I went on my iPad and I put in the chosen. Um I'm not big on streaming stuff. Uh so but um I had the app for the um chosen. I I just about. I think over three days I watched um six episodes. Okay. Uh and it's uh holy week. It's uh from it goes from the uh entrance into Jerusalem, Palm Sunday, to the Garden of Gethsemane. Um it's so beautifully done. And uh and then um I hear and see that um uh Father Mike Schmitz did an interview with Jonathan Roomy, which I wrote about this week. And uh if you have a chance, watch the interview, even if you're not a fan of the chosen. Um and now the occasion of the interview was um they finished the six season, which is um Good Friday and the crucifixion. Um and uh if you're a fan of the chosen, you know Jonathan Roomy who plays the plays Jesus in it um to hear this interview. And uh I mean you can even see it he's it's gonna be ten years, he says, as an actor. He's given ten years of his life. There's gonna be seven seasons altogether, I guess, uh as in in the course of the talking about the crucifixion and how heavy it was and um um intense. Um at one point he said, well, at least we have the resurrection coming up. So uh the seventh season is gonna be the resurrection and following, I think even maybe Pentecost.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

Um so there is a great quote, I think it was in your column where he says, I'm gonna be grappling with this for the rest of my life if I'm gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 33:36

Right, right, right, right. Um but you can see as a person of faith how he has matured, yeah. Um and uh, you know, now he's a speaker. Uh he spoke at the Eucharistic Congress. Um, but you know, he's I think at Mass almost every day, uh he talked about receiving communion in this interview.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

And um So he he converted somewhere along with the other. No, the water.

SPEAKER_03 33:58

Um I think he was he has an Irish mother. I learned that. I didn't realize that. His mother is Irish, and his father, I want to say, is Armenian or um maybe Eastern Right Catholic. He talks about being bullied and I think of being of mixed race. I think he grew up on Long Island. Um they Father Mike asked him about something early in his life that might have pointed him towards this uh uh Jesus of Nazareth by Franco Zefferelli, uh six-hour miniseries um from the 70s, which is beautiful. Uh he watched that as a 12-year-old kid, uh. He's Jonathan Rooney, and he said he went out in his backyard and put two planks together and uh uh and got something for a crown of thorns, and all by himself, he he reenacted the crucifixion. He said he got a cinder block and put the cross in it and put himself up on the um, yeah, yeah, it's um it's a great interview. So I wrote about that, and by chance um I also saw that Bishop Barron um interviewed uh Justice Amy Coney Barrett, um Supreme Court Justice. And again, I highly recommend um she's um she's a mom of seven, uh husb wife and and and mother, two children adopted from Haiti, um, and uh uh one child with Down syndrome, um, but a woman of faith, and um uh uh so it was uh and um I also had a I did some work during Christmas, it sounds like I was much to watch in terms of football. Uh so uh and the Knicks were doing great until they're not anymore. But uh uh so um and St. John's basketball is not doing it. Uh well uh I heard that to the other. Well they lost eight nothing. Nine nothing, I think. Oh, is it nine nothing? Yeah, I gave up at the U.S. uh so um are the Olympics coming up?

SPEAKER_00 35:45

Yes, Olympics. Oh, yeah. Ice hockey, nets hockey.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

Um Are you Olympics fan?

SPEAKER_02 35:50

I I j I prefer Summer Olympics, but uh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:53

Um those two interviews and um an audio book I listened to um uh David McCullough, a great history author, and uh his daughter and collaborator wrote a book after his passing about some of his speeches and essays um Why History Matters. Excellent, excellent. Uh and they gave his favorite some of his favorite books. He wrote his own list of his favorite books that impacted him. There's a guy, Bruce Catton, I think, C-A-T-T-O-N, he must have written a dozen books on the w civil war. And one that McCullough liked was called Um Stillness at Appomattox, about what the year, so the year that basically led to the end of the Civil War. But that was uh uh so uh uh a few things that we hit you with a couple questions?

SPEAKER_00 36:49

Sure, please, yeah. I um so when you when you look to a new year as a bishop, as a leader of uh our diocese here in in Patterson, uh how do you what do you what do you think about what do you how do you uh do you you say, hey, I have some goals for this upcoming year or some things that I just sent a letter to our priests um this morning actually, um and uh from our convocation last fall and a survey we did with our priests over the last really year and a half.

SPEAKER_03 37:19

Um there's an in an interest in some of our we have two main groups. Uh Bishop Barron did a uh uh one of his podcasts on the life of a bishop. That was pretty interesting. Uh but he talked about consultative bodies in the diocese, the presbyteral council and the deans. Um so um uh I rely on them to help set some of the direction and vision and priorities. And um so um we're gonna have a couple of opportunities for our priests and others. We're gonna sinnerly we're working on encouraging uh parish councils to um be active in each parish. And uh um so um we're gonna have some gatherings uh for pastoral planning um um on the diocesan level in in the in the coming weeks. So that's something that we're looking at um this this this as we begin this this new year.

SPEAKER_00 38:08

Okay. So Seul, any questions for the bishop?

SPEAKER_02 38:11

Uh I guess one thing 2027 looking really forward is World Youth Day and the 90th anniversary of the diocese.

SPEAKER_03 38:19

Oh, okay. Yeah, so uh so we'll be making some plans this year, I hope, for the 90th anniversary. Um but world youth day, yes, in Seoul. And we got to get started on that right away because fundraising it's um but um is that on your radar?

SPEAKER_02 38:32

Do you have intentions to go to the Please God?

SPEAKER_03 38:34

Oh yes, yes, yes. Um and um uh John Camarata um w worked for a long time at St. Peter's Parish, St. Peter the Apostle in Parsippone, and he's been the last few years our Dawson director. Right. Um he's now gonna be working full-time at our evangelization center in St. Paul's Inside the Walls of Madison, and he and Sister Teresa Lee um are starting to uh coordinate our efforts for um uh World Youth Day, and um Sister Teresa is a little in because uh her parents are from Korea, and so she'll be our interpreter, I think.

SPEAKER_02 39:11

Does she speak Korean?

SPEAKER_03 39:12

I think she does, yeah. I believe she does, yes.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

It's funny because a big movie that trended in 2025 is K-pop Demon Hunters. So it's a big on Netflix, and uh, if you have a child of a certain age group, they probably all want to go to Korea now. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:28

Um K-pop Demon Hunters. Um that was 20 Oh, that was 2025, yeah. Yes, 2025. Wow, wow, wow. Um uh I have to find the I I hear all this stuff about stranger things. Uh that's oh yes.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

I mean you grew up in the 80s, so you might be interested in it.

SPEAKER_03 39:46

I I uh my n some of my nephews and nieces and family mentioned it in passing, but I I forgot to ask um whether I should try to watch it.

SPEAKER_00 39:54

Um my sister and I went and saw the the play the prequel to the Who's okay?

SPEAKER_02 40:01

Yeah. I I like the 80s references. Hugely popular.

SPEAKER_03 40:06

So um are there cartoon characters in it?

SPEAKER_02 40:10

Th I think they're having a cartoon being made of like it's called Stranger Things 1988, but it it's a it's a live action.

SPEAKER_03 40:19

I didn't even realize it was the 80s now that I'm a little more interested in it.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Oh yeah, that's and you hear a lot of throwbacks in the right.

SPEAKER_03 40:24

So Walkman and the other thing.

SPEAKER_02 40:26

Yeah, like Kate Bush is the big song there.

SPEAKER_03 40:28

And uh Kate Bush?

SPEAKER_02 40:30

Yeah, some 80s music. Well, you know Prince.

SPEAKER_03 40:37

Prince, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh Raspberry Beret.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

Yeah. And uh A Never Ending Story. Do you remember?

SPEAKER_03 40:45

Uh the I've heard of it. I don't think I saw it yet.

SPEAKER_02 40:48

But there's a lot of like deep 80s references. Well, Dungeons and Dragons. Okay, yeah. I don't know if you were into the Dragon. No, I was not.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

I know somewhere. Um I like watching um uh uh what's the TV show uh uh Big Bang Theory and Shelby.

unknown 41:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:07

Right.

SPEAKER_00 41:07

So I played a bit in my childhood, my brother more so.

SPEAKER_03 41:11

Um so but um uh in terms of the diocese, uh I think we're got a lot of exciting things that will be coming up this year and leading into the 90th anniversary. Um uh again, the pilgrimage to Washington and more immediately um the March for Life in Washington and uh in and and so um um we had some guests lined up for upcoming episodes. So I'm looking forward to that. Um God willing, I'll be making a pilgrimage to Mexico um uh in September back to um the same trip, yeah. Basically, yes uh the the sisters of Mary who run this orphanage in uh um outside of Mexico City. Uh so stay tuned for details on that one.

SPEAKER_00 41:56

Yeah, we have that up on the is it that's open to people.

SPEAKER_03 41:59

Yeah, yeah, and it's brief. It's um like Friday to Monday. Um so um, but well well worth it.

SPEAKER_00 42:06

Um check out beacon uh beaconnj.org events and check out our show notes for more. So all right, well I think we're gonna leave it there then. All right. Well, thank you for joining us. Please subscribe, comment, and leave a positive rating. Get to know us better by following Bishop Kevin's Instagram and beyond the beacon on social media. Read the bishop's week weekly column on beaconnj.org. Get in touch if you have a question for the bishop or a podcast topic idea, and discover our other podcasts. See you next time.

SPEAKER_03 42:37

And say a prayer before you go for the bishops of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We'll be on retreat the week of January 12th to the uh 16th, I think, Monday to um Monday to Friday. So uh I'm looking forward to that. Uh and uh please keep us in your prayers and I'll be praying for you, and we'll be praying for you as we'll be on retreat.

SPEAKER_02 42:59

Oh my gosh, you have a birthday coming up, don't you?

SPEAKER_03 43:03

Thanks everybody. See you soon. Happy New Year. God bless.